


Tea Party

by Nonsensecompany



Category: - - Fandom
Genre: Altruism, Companions, Creature Fic, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Herbalism, Sleep Deprivation, Tea, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 12:19:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18261149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonsensecompany/pseuds/Nonsensecompany
Summary: Hi! My first post here so I'm still trying to figure how this platform works!This is the first of four stories I'm writting for my college thesis and all of them come accompanied with a illustration that you can check here: https://www.instagram.com/nonsensecompany/?hl=pt-brThe first story is a conversation between two of my characters, Desmond and Meredith.A huge thanks to my friends Gleisson who helped with the painting and Luís who helped with the text corrections!Feedback is always appreciated!





	Tea Party

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! My first post here so I'm still trying to figure how this platform works!  
> This is the first of four stories I'm writting for my college thesis and all of them come accompanied with a illustration that you can check here: https://www.instagram.com/nonsensecompany/?hl=pt-br  
> The first story is a conversation between two of my characters, Desmond and Meredith.  
> A huge thanks to my friends Gleisson who helped with the painting and Luís who helped with the text corrections!  
> Feedback is always appreciated!

He hoped that, after not answering the second knock, the person would give up and just leave. Unfortunately, today was not his day. He rolled his eyes, put down his pipe, waved his hand on the air to dissipate the smoke and got up with a grunt:

“Not today.” – he whispered. The person at the door was really persistent and, before he could reach de handle, one more loud knock came through, which made his head burst with pain from the tiredness.

As he opened the door, a familiar voice greeted him:

“Hello Desmond. How have you been?”

He stared at his old friend, who stood at the door frame, for a few second before she broke the silence –

“Desmond?!”

“Oh - he shook his head – I’m sorry…Meredith, I wasn’t expecting anyone today.”

“I noticed.” – she stated with a soft tone on her voice.

Some more awkward seconds passed by, Desmond forced an enthusiastic tone to his voice and finally spoke up - “How rude am I? Please come in, my dear.” – and moved away so his friend could enter.

“Thank you!” – Meredith exclaimed

But she didn’t take more than a few steps inside before kicking what appeared to be a porcelain tea cup, which rolled over and over till Desmond was able to reach it. He grabbed and put it on the kitchen sink with half a dozen other cups of tea.

“It seems like you need to clean up a bit.” – She said, moving her head towards Desmond

With a sigh of annoyance, he replied - “As I told you before, I wasn’t expecting visits today. So you have to excuse me for the mess.”

She chuckled – “You have been quite busy lately. I haven’t heard of you in quite a while.”

“I guess you can say so, my friend.” – he sighed again while leaning over the dirty dishes.

He already knew where this surprise visit would take him. By now, she probably had already noticed the impatience and annoyance on his voice. And if there was something Meredith was outstandingly good at was to pinpoint the smallest changes on someone’s voice. What to expect from a creature with no eyes other than excellent hearing?

“Let’s get this over with.” - he muttered silently in hopes she didn’t catch it. Or maybe he wanted her to hear it, in the case she hadn’t noticed his unwelcoming tone or the other signs of his indisposition. He was brought back to reality when he heard Meredith cleaning her throat.

 “Let us have a cup of tea, my dear, shall we?”

She shook her head and Desmond carefully guided her through the book maze that covered his floor. Having her bump into one of the book piles would only guarantee him another lecture, and today was not a good day for lectures.

He offered Meredith a pillow for her to seat on and proceeded to get a clean tea set for his visitor. He tried to move the pile of books that blocked the access to the cabinet, where the sets laid, as quietly as possible to avoid more question about the state of his house, but it seemed like his strength was leaving him. He was so drained that he had to use an immense amount of energy to move a simple pile of books.

“Well, I think you’re right about my place being a mess Meredi-“ – his thought was interrupt by Meredith calm voice:

“Do you need help? You seem to be struggling with that tea set” – she giggled.

He tried to control the anger growing inside him. He didn’t want to be questioned over his whereabouts. He just wished to be alone and resume his studies. But now, he was stuck with his old friend in his living room, patiently waiting for the tea and even in all of his frustration Desmond didn’t want to simply throw her out of the house. He couldn’t do it, because, first, he had no energy to do so and second, Meredith was probably just worried about him and it wouldn’t be fair to kick her out when she was trying to help. However, today Meredith was trying too hard and in the end Desmond only wanted her gone.

“Everything is fine. I was studying before you showed up; I just forgot to put these books back on their place.” – he said while looking for a fresh pair of cups that matched, something that was quite hard to find, as most of them were laying unwashed in the sink.

Finally, he found a proper set and with it in hands, headed back to the kitchen to prepare the beverage.

“Studying, huh?! So that’s why no one in the village has seen you in almost a week. What are you so focused on?” – Meredith said, with a tad of curiosity on her voice.

Her words lingered in silence for a while until Desmond returned with the kettle, placing it over the magic crystals that stood in his living room, and sat beside her, handing Meredith her cup.

“I..hmm…I am trying to improve my healing skills. Seems like my herbs are not enough for some…situations.” – He muttered looking down at his cup.

“I see… and how have you been feeling lately?” – She asked, turning to face him.

He took a deep breath and forced a happy tone– “Better than nev-“

“You shouldn’t smoke in closed areas. The smell impregnates in everything.” – She cut through his answer

 

“Fuck, Meredith, I just wanted to be left alone.” – he thought, his face contorting with displeasure. He had this bad habit of smoking indoors whenever he was too anxious or too busy to leave his house, and even if the herbal mix smoke could disguise itself among the other herbs and plants Desmond had around, Meredith knew his habits to well.

Before he could reply, the kettle started to sizzle. The sharp noise that came from it made Desmond’s head hurt again; he squinted his eyes in hopes that the pain would go away.

“Looks like tea is ready.” – he said with a lifeless voice, while shaking his head in discomfort.

He quickly reached for the kettle to make the noise stop and, with a mechanical motion, poured for Meredith and himself. Both stayed in silence while sipping the tea. At that moment, Desmond felt some of his anxiety melt away with the warm liquid, his headache ceased a little and allowed his body to relax.

“Now, are you going to tell me what is bothering you?” – Meredith’s question brought him back to reality.

He chuckled in defeat. There were no more places to hide, she had his back against the wall. Staring blankly at the tea, he said – “I am….very, very frustrated…Meredith. I feel like a failure. The people from the village count on me. I am the only medical support they can rely on”

“Except that you are NOT a medic and you haven’t accepted that yet.” – she said with a stern voice.

That was the last straw. He couldn’t stand her attitude any longer. He exploded - “Why do you feel so entitled to throw that on my face? I do everything I can to help those people, everything within the reach of my knowledge. I am aware of my standing in the medical field, but what could I do in a situation like that? I couldn’t let the child die!”

The child. The wolf pup that was brought to Desmond’s care after being attacked by those nasty creatures. Meredith already knew the reason behind all his distress. The pup needed treatment and she was certain Desmond did everything he could to help.

“That’s it, Desmond.” – she replied with a soft smile.

“THAT’S WHAT?” – his voice cracked.

“You just admitted to yourself that you can’t help EVERY. SINGLE.  PERSON.  you come across. And not being able to help DOESN’T make you a horrible person.”

She paused for a second to let the reality sink in:

“Listen, I am not questioning your abilities; I know what you’re capable of, and I know how dedicated you are to the village. But you have to understand that some things are out of your control. Look at you! You are exhausted. You haven’t slept in what? 2-3 days? You have to accept that your knowledge was not enough to help the child and you are not responsible for his current situation, so stop trying to drag a burden that doesn’t belong to you!”

 

His eyes fell back in the tea cup trying to process it all. Maybe she was right. There wasn’t much he could for the pup, at least not for now. Desmond let out a loud yawn, surely he was tired. With a more vivid tone, he said:

“Oh, my dear Meredith, you are DEFINITELY an asshole.”

“Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You look like crap”- her smile grew wider.

“How can you say that? You don’t have fucking eyes!”

“Cause you sound like crap!”

They stopped, faced each other and burst in laughter.

“I should go to sleep. I feel like a plant who hasn’t seen water for ages.” – He yawned again.

“Nah nah nah, we are going to clean this house first; or at least put things out of the way,  I’m  sure you haven’t seen your floor in ages.” – she said standing up and picking a pile of books.

“Ahhh Meredith, come oooooooonnnn…..”- he whined.

They spent the next two hours picking tea cups, washing dishes and moving piles and piles of books. Before Meredith left Desmond wanted to know how things were going in the village, so they sat down for one more round of tea.


End file.
